Marshalltown Christian School and St. Francis Catholic School recently ended the school years amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Both schools took different approaches to COVID-19 mitigation efforts while serving different class sizes and grade levels.

Principal of St. Francis Catholic School Terry Eisenbarth said the school implemented every safety strategy imaginable including requiring face masks, desk shields and splitting the student population up into three cohorts. The school serves 179 students in grades kindergarten through 12th.

Before the school year began, they assembled a return-to-learn team to meet monthly to assess the pandemic and what changes, if any, to mitigation strategies should be made.

Students were also given the option to learn remotely, with video conferencing available in the classroom to watch live instruction.

Eisenbarth said throughout the year, he concluded remote learners needed live instruction and to be able to be seen by the teacher.

“Even though people were concerned about the health scare or spread of COVID, there was still a hunger or a desire to be connected with the class,” he said.

Eisenbarth believes splitting the student population into three cohorts helped prevent cases. Early in the school year, the school had to quarantine the fourth grade through sixth grade cohort. Positive tests began with sixth graders, and through contract tracing, led to the whole group of students needing quarantine.

Eisenbarth is thankful for how supportive and collaborative families were during that time.

“There were times when I had to contact families and tell them that they were going to have to quarantine,” he said. “That’s difficult for families because parents are working and trying to pay bills and take care of themselves, so sometimes those contact the whole family through an abrupt change.”

He thinks COVID-19 will still be a topic of discussion heading into the next school year, and while the school is focused on in-person learning, will still be able to provide remote learning for families who choose it.

Despite a school year filled with challenges, Eisenbarth said the year was definitely not a waste. He said working to overcome the obstacles created by the COVID-19 pandemic helped staff grow in their collaboration and problem solving skills.

“It’s not the trial or tribulation that you’re confronted with that’s as big as the way the system navigates through and handles it, and works together collectively to get through it,” Eisenbarth said.

At Marshalltown Christian School, continuity and routine for kids was the goal for Director Bethany Wirin.

“I just felt like we had to stay open for the kids,” Wirin said. “We had to keep the routine for the kids. That would be the best thing for them, because nothing else was normal.”

The school ended the year with five total cases of COVID-19 in the building, while sticking close to school as normal. The school serves 53 students in grades kindergarten through sixth.

At the beginning of the school year, temperature checks were performed on students and grades were split up into cohorts with social distancing in classrooms. When cases began to spike in the county around Thanksgiving, the school required masks from December to March.

The biggest challenge she said was communication with families, as parents were not allowed into the building except by appointment. With all communication being virtual, Wirin said she felt a loss of community.

She said as a school administrator, she felt tremendous pressure throughout the year when making decisions, but overall feels the year went much better than she originally expected.

“There were those who thought we would make it through a week or two of school in the fall and then everybody would have COVID, that did not happen and it never happened,” Wirin said.

She said she gives glory to God, believing their prayers all year for good health and protection made a difference.

“I’ve been really blessed by the resilience of the students, the dedication of the teachers and I would say the grace of the parents and the support of the board,” Wirins said. “It was a hard year and we all just hung in there together.”

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Contact Trevor Babcock 641-753-6611 or tbabcock@timesrepublican.com.